A (very) old trick to handle a fussy baby

Imagine it’s 1886. Everyone wants a portrait of the baby, who just won’t sit still for the camera long enough. Look very closely at this photo and you’ll see a clever trick to calm a fretful baby: Disguise the mother as a chairHere’s what the owner of this image says:

I have a small collection of photos of mothers disguised as chairs. John recently found this tintype at an estate sale for a $1 which is a great example.